Two weeks after the California Transportation Commission voted to cut $750 million in transportation funding statewide, local elected officials, labor groups and transportation officials gathered Friday morning to urge the Legislature to pass a transportation funding package. The local officials spoke about the fact that without a decision by the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown to dedicate more funding to transportation, other critically important transportation projects could languish.

Proposals under Legislative Discussion Range from Identifying More Resources to Removing Local Authority

Last November the League board of directors, following a policy setting retreat with other League leadership, identified addressing housing affordability and securing more resources to assist the chronically homeless as one its top three policy priorities for 2016.

Cities Specific Data Due by March 15 to Receive Credit

The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) on Tuesday voted to extend through October the emergency urban water conservation regulation, while making some modest changes to address the concerns raised by cities and water agencies.

The League of California Cities® is refreshing its website and would like to continue to provide current updates on legal, legislative and educational issues on a regular basis through a central, streamlined site. In order to do this, the League is conducting a brief survey to better understand the value and use of its website and featured website tools.

This story is part of an ongoing series featuring Helen Putnam Award entries. The 2015 entries are available on the League’s website as a resource for cities in a searchable database called California City Solutions. Santa Maria’s Life Facing Bars: A Gang Prevention Documentary was submitted in 2015 for the Public Safety award category.

Addiction to opioids such as heroin, morphine, and prescription pain relievers continues to challenge the social and economic wellbeing of counties big and small. Heroin use specifically has increased dramatically in the past five years, and subsequently, overdose-related deaths more than doubled from 2011 to 2014. In an effort to provide assistance with this national epidemic, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy hosted a community forum on the opioid overdose in Knox County, Tenn. At this forum, state and local leaders announced that the National Association of Counties, the National Governors Association, the National League of Cities, and the United States Conference of Mayors with the U.S. Communities Government Purchasing Alliance, Premier, Inc., and Adapt Pharma are offering NARCAN® Nasal Spray at a 40-percent discount.